Enemies on All Sides (Maraukian War Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  Mark watched as she did so. “Can’t be tired already. We’ve not even been at it a few hours.”

  He could see and feel several things bothering her, but like him, she wasn’t always as open as she could be, and talking about it very rarely made things any easier. Their pain and future was pretty much already spoken for; they just had to make decisions about it, so that those in their path, or running alongside, would be well taken care of, both enemies and friends alike.

  Mark moved to stand before her, placing one arm on the wall, while he held her gaze in his. Totally taking up any personal space she’d wanted, but feeling the need to be as close to her in as comforting a way as possible.

  “We’re still weeks out of seeing them,” she finally admitted. “I thought...” Pausing, she placed a hand on his chest. “I hoped it would be quicker.”

  “We’ve been traveling for months, training for most of them. Working ourselves to the bone almost. We’ve both done this to try to pass that time, make the most of what we had, rather than go into cryo.”

  “This is what we do, right?”

  Mark nodded at her, resting a hand on her hip. “You know it is.”

  Ava looked away from him, pushing him gently so that he’d move.

  Mark pushed back. “We’ve got to stop by the Yard first. It’s closer to the system—complete a few tasks there, then move to the station. We can easily get to the planet and then Crisidium in a few hours.”

  “I just want it now.”

  He saw her pout, and this time wasn’t taking it. He pulled her into him, feeling her body melt into his. “I know. It will be soon. You can take as much time as you need off from things around here, see your family.”

  She looked up at him. “Hey, you need to see them too. I want to tell them...”

  Mark’s face dropped. “Tell them what?”

  “About us. You know I’m not going to stay at home without you, and if they see us together, they’re not stupid—they’ll know.”

  Mark hesitated and pulled back from her slightly. It was more questions and feelings, and emotions that he hadn’t really thought on. This whole “moving in together” had been something he’d fought off, tried to stop, but the inevitable thing was, Ava wasn’t nor would she ever give up.

  “How do you think Hael...your father will take it?”

  She seemed to pause and think. There were a lot of feelings he was getting across their connections, but they weren’t what he really wanted to feel or hear.

  “I don’t know,” she said simply in the end. “He likes you, Mark. He wouldn’t have been so easy or free to let me go if he didn’t. And he believed in the things you said, the man that you are.”

  “But...” He knew there was one reservation.

  “I’m still his little girl. Even with Akai, I’m still his first.”

  Mark thought deeply on this and came to that understanding. “I’ll do everything I can to ease this transition.”

  Ava laughed. “You’re not tuning up an engine, you know.” She picked up her weapons once more. “Come on, let’s keep that energy burning. Take my mind off where I want to be.”

  Mark obliged. As their swords connected in a flurry of moves, he still couldn’t help but wonder what being in Emarl and being around all those he cared for would be like. They’d spent months getting here, and now he was worried he would want out as soon as they arrived.

  ***

  It had taken a month for Thia to settle with the twins. Nothing like having two new babies around to make everything go awry.

  But the more Hael had done for her, and for them, the more he realized not having Ava around had worn him down.

  He’d spoken to her only a few days previous, but the comms wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted to hold his baby girl—his first one—in his arms. Even though she was probably a heck of a lot bigger than him now.

  Hael made his way through from his office to where Thia was in a beautifully made up new nursery. The twins were sleeping and she was herself dosing in the sun that drifted in from the window. Easing the door open, he stood and watched them for but a moment. It was pure bliss. Then his eleven-week-old son made a gurgle and his wife woke. She looked at him and smiled.

  “Hey,” he said. They moved to the cot and looked over; he was just turning in his sleep. Nothing for her to worry over.

  “What you doing around here?” She smiled, and, moving to his side, wrapped her arm around him.

  “You know, can’t keep away at the moment.”

  When Thia winced after he squeezed her gently, he pulled back. “Still sore?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Got an appointment to see the doctors later, but I think I’ll get one to stop by here instead—check the twins and me at the same time.”

  He watched her face to make sure the pain she’d felt wasn’t anything more substantial, but her face settled and so did his worry.

  “Just a complication from the surgery—nothing to worry about. I think I just need to get out some more, exercise instead of look after these two.” She grinned back to the babies and let out a laugh. “As much as I love them, I’d forgotten how much it took from you to raise one, let alone two.”

  Hael could understand that. Between the both of them, they’d not had much sleep the last month. At first, both babies had settled in well, but then Akai, his daughter, had gotten herself a cold and then passed it to Kail. Now the two of them had been sick and their sleep pattern had altered; that meant not much rest during the night for the both of them. Hael had mentioned a nanny to help look after them and although there was one on hand for her, Thia never really let her do much, so the point was at the moment pretty moot. “Awen can help look after the twins while you go out,” he suggested. “Walk around the gardens, talk to the people like you used to. They’ve missed seeing you about the house.”

  Thia smiled at him. “I’d like that. Thank you for letting me make the decision.”

  He knew what she was like. Forcing any woman to do something she didn’t want was hard enough, but when she was still hormonal…not a chance.

  “How are preparations for Ava’s homecoming?” she asked.

  Hael hadn’t put a lot of thought into it, but it was and would be a big thing for not only them as a family, but for his people. Ava had been missed more so than Thia around the house. Many people continually asked about her well-being, even if they didn’t understand her decision to become a merger. Some hadn’t even grasped that concept; they saw her and probably always would see her as the princess of Crisidium. Though now, looking over Akai, he knew they’d take to her just as much.

  Akai wasn’t supposed to be a replacement for Ava; he’d certainly not planned it, but his people would accept eventually that they had another to celebrate. Over the years to come, he only hoped that Akai wouldn’t decide to follow her bigger sister. In fact, that was one thing Ava had asked him not to let happen to her brothers, so he was sure she wouldn’t let it happen to the family she’d not even met yet.

  “They will want a public celebration,” Thia said.

  Hael frowned. “I just want her home for a bit, you know.”

  Thia poked him in the ribs. “We all do. But there’s a lot more to her just arriving, and we both know that.”

  Hael sighed. “She’s so close, I can almost feel her.”

  Thia looked up into his eyes, then brought his chin down to kiss him. “I know. We can speak with her together when they arrive in Emarl. Then we can work out their plan of action before she comes to the planet. As much as I want her here, right now, I know that’s not going to happen.”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  EMFC Doomsday

  Emarl System

  11/3556

  Ortiz was in the command center with all of the other command staff of the troopers as they transitioned back into real space.

  Last transit, Ortiz thought as information started to come in from the ship’s sensors. First the other three ships in the formation appear
ed: the two accompanying EMFCs and the freighter that had transported Ortiz and his people out to them.

  They started picking up on a few minute-old light, showing the different planets. Ortiz looked to the planet Ark and was able to make out the Yard. Even though it produced humanity’s largest ships, it was barely a speck when compared to the planet it orbited.

  He could see some ships moving to the refinery station that was being built out of the Yard’s refinery deck, out toward the asteroid belts, even more moving toward Tricticus and the station there.

  The four vessels silently accelerated in toward the Yard.

  “We have a message coming in from the Yard for you, General Ortiz.” A communications officer turned to him.

  “Put them on-screen,” Ortiz said.

  The screen changed to a woman with a boy on her shoulder.

  “What dump did they pick you out of?” Esamai asked.

  “Good to see you, too, Esamai. How is little Tyler?” Ortiz smiled. He was godfather to the little boy and even if he hadn’t seen him before, he felt a connection with him as happiness filled him.

  “He’s fine. Little cranky—just woke him up.”

  Tyler didn’t seem to take this too well as he started making pre-crying huffs.

  “No, no, come on, little man. You’re all right,” Esamai said.

  “Did I miss it?” an out-of-breath voice asked off camera.

  “No, he’s still on the call,” Esamai said, still trying to soothe Tyler. “Do you want to try to calm down your son?”

  “Pass him here.” Jerome’s large figure filled the camera as he took Tyler and looked at the feed. “Yup, you’re still an ugly bastard,” Jerome said, looking at Ortiz.

  “Hey, that ain’t no way to greet an old friend,” Ortiz complained.

  “You owe me dip tins still.” Jerome’s tone was dry.

  “Do you have to be so petty?” Ortiz scratched his head. “I thought those were gifts between friends.”

  Jerome snorted and shook his head. He checked on Tyler, who seemed to have calmed down as he looked at his father with big, wide eyes. “He’s your godfather—don’t give me that look!”

  The other people around Ortiz were all trying to sneak a look at the screen. Jerome was a person straight out of trooper legend. They had all seen the information on the Harmony War. The part that the Victors played wasn’t small and many had looked up their exploits, being left in shock. Even these captains, colonels, and warrant officers across company to regiment were all interested.

  “Wait a minute, Mark’s coming online,” Jerome said.

  The screen split with Esamai and Jerome on one side and Mark on the other. He seemed to be in some kind of ship.

  “Good to see you again,” Mark said. “Everything go all right?”

  “Got three ships up for sale and a bunch of EMF personnel looking to retire in their own piece of paradise.” Ortiz grinned, casting his eyes to the side as the people in the room heard him, grinning and smiling.

  He could see them relaxing. Up till now, they had hoped everything he said was the truth, but they hadn’t believed it all the way. Now it was out in front of them.

  “Sounds good. Heard a bunch of them past the school skill tests too. Always in need for more people in the Victor Corp!” Jerome said.

  “Shameless promoter,” Mark said.

  “I trained him well,” Esamai said with pride, tapping his chest.

  “You own fifty percent too!” Jerome shot back.

  Mark seemed to take a moment. “The Victor Corporation is a great place to work, should tell everyone that it is the place to work,” Mark said with his most winning, cheesy salesman smile.

  Ortiz rolled his eyes, but he could see that the people with him were relaxing at the two’s joking words. “We’re still about nine days from reaching the Yard,” Ortiz said.

  “Understood. It’ll be good to have you all here. Give us a chance, a real chance to do something for ourselves,” Mark said.

  The room seemed to become somber.

  “Fuck the EHC. Welcome to Emarl,” Jerome said.

  The people around Ortiz all had beaming smiles while Esamai pinched Jerome, looking from him to Tyler with threatening eyes.

  “You think he’s not going to learn swear words?” Jerome asked.

  Esamai clearly wanted to argue, but looked at Ortiz and then Mark and pinched Jerome again.

  “What was that for!”

  “His first word better be mom!” Esamai said.

  Ortiz laughed. He hadn’t been to Emarl before, but he felt as if he were coming home. He was optimistic about what was to come.

  Bringing five hundred thousand of his brothers and sisters home as well was a big bonus.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The Yard

  Ark Orbit, Emarl System

  11/3556

  “Meetings are great—they are so much fun,” Jerome said for the third time.

  “Say it a few dozen more times and it might come true,” Mark said as Jerome and Esamai entered the conference room.

  Jerome flipped him the bird and went to his seat. It seemed that he had been in nothing but meetings ever since he had left the VCF Osdal.

  All of the major players were there.

  “You wake up on the wrong side of bed?” Ortiz asked.

  “I must’ve to have to see your ugly mug,” Jerome spat back.

  Hall laughed. “Seems that someone was on baby watch duty last night?”

  Esamai didn’t say anything but wrapped her arms around Jerome, who looked at the others as if they could save him.

  They all had mean looks on their faces as they looked away, ignoring his plight.

  Moretti was there, in holographic form, even showing his appearance as everyone here knew who he was already.

  There were no members of the Tricticus council, or any aides here. The NIAIs were better than any aide and it meant that they could get to the heart of matters quicker.

  Ava rounded out the last of the people in the room. Esamai disengaged from Jerome and moved to sit beside her. They greeted each other with hugs and small talk.

  Mark and Jerome looked at each other with wary eyes and then back to the two women.

  Another alliance has been made. I’ll have to monitor this, Jerome thought before Mark turned to the table.

  “All right, get your asses in a seat. It’s time we went through what’s going on and got everyone up to date!” Mark pressed a button, locking the doors.

  “And I suddenly feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” Ortiz muttered.

  Hall looked over to him. His eyes seemed to say I know, right?

  Everyone got seated. Jerome, Ortiz, Hall, Moretti, Ava, Esamai and Mark were in the room. They commanded the Victor Corporation and all of its assets. It was no small amount of power, but it was a massive machine and they needed to run it right or else they wouldn’t survive what was coming.

  The kidding atmosphere faded away as they all turned business-like, looking to Mark and Jerome, who was seated to his right side.

  “First, I want to go over the numbers of recruitment of personnel into the Victor Corporation. Primarily through the skill schools.” Mark turned to Jerome and Esamai.

  “I have this one.” Jerome had been reviewing the information. Esamai’s skill set lay in building things while Jerome had dealt with personnel and allotments consistently over his life, so they broke down the workload according to their strengths.

  “Right now, we have the skill schools on the planet Tricticus. We have also set up virtual classrooms with the EMF personnel on the carriers that have been contacted, woken up, and are heading for the Emarl system. In the future, with people coming from the Osdal system, it is my hope to use the transit time to try to get those who want to learn new skills through the basic lessons. The people coming from Masoul, we are using cryopods so they’re going to be out and won’t be able to. The skill schools have gone over well. The people who had nothing else or any ot
her opportunities have grabbed this chance with both hands and are giving it their all. We’ve set up a tier system. Teachers can assess their students not only on their knowledge but their temperament and the way that they go about tasks. This allows them to be placed into classes that are better suited for their learning needs, allowing us to speed up the rate that they progress.

  “While training the people on Tricticus is slow-going, we do have some one point five million people who are training, working at the different campuses or in the application process. The biggest thing that we’ve found when looking at the demographics of the Tricticus students is that most of them are from lower positions in the Tricticus hierarchy. They had nothing, so they risked it all. The more powerful clans and families are less likely to put their people to the schools, else they might come out with debt. Also, a lot of the powerful families’ students are being kicked out as they’re fighting because of some old grudge their family has and expecting that their family will make sure that any trouble disappears.” Jerome looked to the people in the room. None of them even batted an eyelid. One would have to make it on their own in this world. Relying on their family and connections wasn’t the way of the Victor Corporation.

  “Moving on to the EMF trainees. With their knowledge of safety, ability to work in space, as well as basics such as math, sciences, and literacy, even without sleep training aids, their training has been greatly accelerated. With them selling their carriers to us, they are also able to pay us directly for their training, so it is entirely possible for them to branch off from the Victor Corporation to make their own companies in the Emarl system. There are some four million in training right now on their way to the Emarl system. The EMF who have already arrived, some of them are in or are heading to the different schools on Tricticus or the station and Yard to get hands-on training. Once outfitted with a NIAI and allowed to sleep learn, it won’t take them long until they’re fully qualified. We will have the first Tricticus and ex-EMF qualified workers in a few months. It will be around a hundred and twenty thousand people, we estimate. Though those are rough numbers. Each month afterward, we’re expecting anywhere from fifty to eighty thousand people being qualified by the skill schools.”